1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process equipment selecting system and a method for selecting process equipment, and more specifically to a system and a method for selecting manufacturing equipment or process equipment which selects equipment most suited for each process in the production line requiring particularly high precision processing.
2. Description of Related Art
In photoengraving processes for semiconductor devices, different properties, such as registration accuracy, may be resulted depending on process equipment used for processing, even when the semiconductor devices are processed under the same process conditions. Heretofore, when products requiring registration accuracy between photoengraving processes are produced, the processes requiring registration accuracy has had to be processed only by the same equipment or by equipment within a equipment group having the same properties. The control of these fixed processes, equipment or equipment groups requiring registration accuracy has been performed manually. Dimensional accuracy of photoengraving or dimensional accuracy of etching require similar highly precision processing.
FIG. 9 shows the relationship between the process and equipment used in a conventional production factories. In FIG. 9, the master table (process master able) 100 for defining the order of processes required for the production of products (hereafter referred to as xe2x80x9clotxe2x80x9d) contains the process id identifying the order of processes, and the process equipment id identifying groups containing one or more unit of equipment usable corresponding to the process id. For example, the process id is defined in the order of xe2x80x9cprocess 1,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cprocess 2,xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cprocess 3,xe2x80x9d and the process equipment id corresponds to each process id, and is defined as the process equipment corresponding to xe2x80x9cprocess 1xe2x80x9d is xe2x80x9cEQPG1.xe2x80x9d The process equipment table 120 defines the process equipment id and the equipment id contained in the group of the relevant process equipment id. The process equipment table 120 defines one or more equipment id corresponding to the process equipment id, and equipment identified by these equipment ids is equipment usable for actual processing in each process. In conventional production factories, the equipment id used in a certain process id is determined by executing the computer program 130 for retrieving equipment using the above-described process master table 100 and the process equipment table 120.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a conventional equipment retrieving process for obtaining equipment which can be used for processing in the next process step when a certain process step of a lot has completed and proceeds to the next process step. As FIG. 10 shows, the process master table 120 for the lot is first retrieved to acquire the process equipment id of the lot type usable for the next process id (Step S510). The process equipment table 120 is retrieved to acquire the equipment id corresponding to the process equipment id acquired in Step S510 (Step S520). A unit of equipment is selected from one or more equipment id acquired in Step S520, and the lot is actually processed by the selected equipment (Step S530).
In order to achieve the improvement of quality or accuracy of a lot, equipment used for processing must be limited, especially when process accuracy is required. However, in conventional method for selecting process equipment, since a unit of equipment is selected from a group of equipment usable for processing a type of the product as described above, equipment most suited for each lot has not been able to be selected. When a limited unit of equipment usable for processing is selected, the equipment cannot be substituted when it cannot be used due to failure or the like, which becomes a critical interference for the production of the lot.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide the solution of the above-described problems, and to provide a system and a method for selecting processes, which enable a type of lot to be processed by any unit of a plurality of units of equipment, but automatically control the selection of the most suited equipment when processing with a limited unit of equipment most suited for each lot is required.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process equipment selection system for selecting process equipment for each lot, comprising: a process master control means for controlling the order of process steps producing the lot, together with a process equipment group including at least one unit of equipment used for the process, a control type showing whether or not the specification of process equipment used for the process is controlled, and an element process that the process can include; a lot information control means for controlling an equipment-specific process equipment group including at least one unit of process equipment used for element process for each lot and the element process of the lot; and a equipment-specific process equipment control means controlling the process equipment included in equipment-specific process equipment group for each of the equipment-specific process equipment groups, wherein when the control type of the process master control means indicates controlling the specification of process equipment for producing the lot, an equipment-specific process equipment group specifically used is acquired from the lot information control means, and the process equipment included in the equipment-specific process equipment group is selected from the equipment-specific process equipment control means.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for selecting process equipment in a process equipment selection system for selecting process equipment for each lot, the process equipment selection system comprising: a process master control portion for controlling the order of process steps producing the lot, together with a process equipment group including at least one unit of equipment used for the process, a control type showing whether or not the specification of process equipment used for the process is controlled, and an element process that the process can include; a lot information control portion for controlling an equipment-specific process equipment group including at least one unit of process equipment used for element process for each lot and the element process of the lot; and an equipment-specific control means controlling the process equipment included in equipment-specific process equipment group for each of the equipment-specific process equipment groups, the method for selecting process equipment comprising: an equipment-specific process equipment acquiring step for acquiring an equipment-specific process equipment group specifically used from the lot information control portion, when the control type of the process master control portion indicates controlling the specification of process equipment for producing the lot; and a selection step for selecting the process equipment included in the equipment-specific process equipment group acquired by the equipment-specific process equipment acquiring step from the equipment-specific process equipment control portion.
The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.